A Helleva of a Choice (but I’ma Have to Support My President)

With two weeks left in the national campaign season and the political balance of Congress on the line, voters are going to have to make some gut-wrenching, nose-holding choices this November. Including myself. Now that President Obama is out on the campaign trail, and the issues become more clear as the spotlight is put more on him than on partisan commercial ads, we can be assured that gridlock will be returning to Washington if the Republicans takeover the House.

Not only will we see a formulated attempt to repeal health care reform, but we will see a radicalization of Republican ideology controlled by the extreme right that will seek to implement a radical policy platform similar to that of the 1990s. We can’t possibly let history repeat itself. I’m not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican so I don’t have a “party stake” in this election. But, as an Obama Independent, I do have a stake in helping the administration carry out the change we voted for two years ago. That means I’m taking my cues from the President. As ugly as it is out there for some Democrats, one in particular-in California-y’all know who I’m talking about, I’m going to have to trust the President on this election.

The political realities are what they are. Keep the Democratic majority or prepare for two years of stonewalling going into the election of 2012, where they (the Republicans) will try to paint the word “failure” on President Obama’s first term. Never mind that they did nothing to help him get the country out of this economic ditch their party got us in. The economy buried us deeper than the coal miners in Chile, and President Obama has led an economic rescue that was just as improbable and painstaking.

If only the Republicans had the patience of the 33 coal miners, we’d be celebrating the economy’s recovery this season. However, to give Obama and the Democrats credit for economic recovery would not serve the political interests of the Republican Party nor their takeover ambitions. So, they continue to ignore results, juxtapose results with projections, play “he said-she said” and do everything to impede the progress.

If America was a drowning victim, the Republicans would be arrested for interfering with a lifesaving rescue. The partisan media, and the mainstream media followed suit, highlighting voter dissatisfaction because the change has taken longer than expected. But let’s be truthful…Who (in their right mind) expected us to have a total economic recovery in less than two years? Okay, in my crystal ball, I see two hands out there…but the rest of us were hopefully realistic in our cautious optimism about change.

It was foolish to expect an economy in freefall to be reversed in such a short time. This economy was the worst since the Great Depression (even though they refused to call it what it was [is]), and the Great Depression lasted ten years. It took President Franklin Delano Roosevelt THREE of his four elected terms to turn the economy around. It’s insane to believe President Obama can turn around a much larger economy with a nation twice the size of Roosevelt’s in a fifth of the time.

But the partisan pundits and the radical fringe, in this instance—the Tea Party, confuse the public by making them think what we all know is impossible is remotely possible. That’s the sum total of this political landscape—unreasonable expectations by unreasonable people.

So, why should we, the public, buy into unreasonableness? And I almost bought into it. I am so disappointed in my U.S. Senator I don’t know what to do. California Senator, Barbara Boxer, is a poor representation of a Senator. I’m sure you’ve been following my eight-month rant against her. I DID NOT VOTE for her in this year’s primary. She has not served my community nor my community’s interest in the 18 years she’s been Senator. We’ve seen her less than five times. In 18 years…I almost hosted her Republican opponent, Carly Fiorina, (operative term here is ALMOST) at my Urban Issues Breakfast Forum. Not because I’m all that impressed with her, but because I’m tired of my community being ignored by Barbara Boxer. But then I heard House Majority Whip, James Clyburn, who I did host at the Urban Issues Forum. And then I listened to my President, who is back in L.A. this week to help Democrats hold on in Congress.

Now is not the time to make a statement on Boxer. We’d actually hurt the President more than we’d be hurting Boxer. So, I’ma have to hold my nose…Yeah, I know. It stinks, doesn’t it? But we’ll all have to hold our noses when we go to the polls in California. I’m sure many communities have similar stinky choices they have to make in other states. But that’s politics…it stinks until it works. Right now, we need it to work.

That brings us to the tough choices we have to make this November. The Republicans haven’t shown they deserve a chance to run Congress on a warmed over soup called “Pledge to America.” All it represents is a made over 1994 Contract with America platform to impede and obstruct any change in Washington. We cannot, in good conscience, participate in sending ideological obstructionists to Congress. That’s the only thing I feel will save Barbara Boxer, and the likes of Barbara Boxer in all the other states.

We cannot afford a repeat of the 1994 Contract with America. Yeah, I know. It stinks, but hold your nose and help our President complete the non-violent political revolution we started in this country to change the face and tenor of American politics.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the LA Progressive, its publisher, editor or any of its other contributors.

About Anthony Asadullah Samad

Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad is an author, scholar and the co-founder, Managing Director and host of the Urban Issues Forum. Dr. Samad's most recent book is entitled "Saving The Race: Empowerment Through Wisdom". His national column can be read in newspapers and cyber-sites nationwide. His weekly writings can be read at www.blackcommentator.com. For more information about Dr. Samad, go to www.AnthonySamad.com.

Comments

Watched “State of the Union” on CNN with Candy Crowley. The very first guest was Chris Van Hollen, the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). It was very painful to watch Chris’s flimflam. So much so, that had to immediately share my plight with my Facebook friends as a pressure release mechanism. I will add video when it is available.

Candy started with: “Chairman Van Hollen – I would like play for you a montage of some of your candidates and ads they are running in their district. Take a listen.”

Mike McIntyre — [ I don’t work for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid or for that matter anyone else..]

Jason Altmire — [ I like Jason Altmire because he is not afraid to stand up to the President. And Nancy Pelosi..]

Chet Edwards — [ When President Obama and Nancy Pelosi pressured Chet Edwards, Chet stood up to them and voted no to their trillion dollar health care bill] [No on HR 3962, No on HR 3590, No on HR 1872, etc. etc.]

Ben Arnold? — [Most Independent Democrat in Congress, I will bring people together for the good of the country] This Ad features Ben with Tan man Boehner (not kidding). [Voted 80% with the Republican Leader]

Candy proceeded: “The last ad shows a Democrat, in his district, next to John Boehner and saying that he voted 80% of the time with Boehner! Is this the sort of way you are going to keep the majority?”

Van Hollen responded: Here is thing candy. We are very proud of the fact that we have a ideologically very diverse caucus.

Candy tries to get a word in “But they are talking against the Speaker”.

Van Hollen talks over her sentence hoping people will not be able to make out the sentence: “No they are talking about their independence on certain issues (80% or perhaps 100%?) On some issues they stood with the Speaker and the President (20%?) and on certain others they opposed the President and the Speaker (80%?). That is their job!”

Van Hollen carries on smugly: “This is opposite of the other side (lighter or darker?) where there is this test of ideological purity. Which has increasingly stronger with the Tea Party”. He than cites how the moderates have lost to the Tea Party candidates.

This last circus was neither convincing to Candy nor to me. To me it is was political hogwash, like tossing dirt on your dogs poop. It was impossible for Van Hollen to hide the opportunistic approach of Dems.

The crux of the matter is that these exact people have been destroying the peoples agenda. If to get elected you have to bring down party leadership and take credit for sabotaging Democratic legislation. This whole ideology decrying by President on down is best exemplified in their liberal bashing.

I recently pushed myself to push the GOTV effort in the Democratic Party. But this episode is very disturbing. Are the volunteers supposed to say that we really have no ideology – our candidates are so diverse that we just keep doing the right thing without having an agenda etc to bind us. What happens to Ben Arnold’s volunteers or is he getting his funding from RNC.

It is for this reason I hate to give any money to these unprincipled bozos. They did not even have the courage to push back publicly on the GZ Mosque bigotry (President’s one speech being an exception). If DCCC is given the money and they channel it to Ben Arnold or another Blue Dog or Bitch — it is a fraud pulled on the donors. Thus Ben is in good shape smooching moolah both from DNC and RNC.

I will continue to support the Candidates with a truthful commitment to the Democratic agenda. I can not even pray for such soulless pathetic opportunists to win in the election on a Democratic ticket. If they had any principles they ought to run as Independents and not destroy a party from within.

I agree with standing or sitting on their own, but you said it, “what has she done in all these years to win a vote? Did a great job of chewing out a general(though she did not do it with any class).

Why? Why should I vote for anyone who can not get er done? Party means nothing to me, I often vote for the lessors of two evils and I voted for blacks long before Obama came along so that has nothing to do with it either.

I look for someone who wants to run the country within its means. I know I can not borrow money each month for the rest of my life and the government can not to it either and remain solvent.

Holding noses means some people won’t bother and won’t vote. I am already noticing a slow return on the absentee ballots in CA. Either people are waiting until the last minute or deciding not to vote. I also have a feeling that actual voting on election day is going to be less than expected. Though Brown and Boxer should win, it certainly won’t be a result of the campaigns either of them ran. I don’t believe I saw one positive commercial for Boxer describing what she has done in her 28 years in the Senate. While I will vote for her, it will be with the enthusiam of going to the dentist. My vote is certainly not dependent on my views of Obama and neither should anyone vote for a candidate to show support or opposition to the President. The candidate has to be able to stand on their own two feet.

LGBT Rights

Irene Monroe: Long before June officially became Gay Pride Month, and October “Coming Out Month” for the LGBTQ community, Halloween was unofficially our yearly celebrated “holiday,” dating as far back at the 1970s when it was a massive annual street party in San Francisco’s Castro district.

The Middle East

Richard Greeman: Anti-government demonstrations spread across Morocco after social media spread the story of Mousine Fikri, a fishmonger crushed to death inside a garbage truck as he tried to block the destruction of a truckload of his fish confiscated by police.